Real Deal

You get the green light to do something like that if you have reason to. You can't run your chops if you're 1-12 shooting, and you hit a jumper with five minutes to go in the third quarter. Martin locked up the game by basically manhandling Odom under the rim. I don't have a problem with what he did.

What you won't do is take shots at the community here. There are plenty of non-Lakers fans, and they actually have knowledge of the game. ?QuestionMark?, .50., *Swish*, #24, AboveLegit, Abro, alcstarheel, andreusito, BadgerFan, ballorama, BasX, Big Penny, Blazed49, Buckets!, Built Ford Tough, Cavamatic, Celtics3420, Charlie Sheen, Check my Stats, ChosenOne, Cleveland's Finest, Clutch, Cobb, Confidence248, dabearfan101, Dash, deestillballin, Doc, Dr. Feelgood, EastCoastNiner, Erick Blasco, fish7718, Force, GamerGuy, Guru, Hawks Fly High, htown11, htownborn, J E N, Jammin, Jay Cutler, Jenneral, Jesus Shuttlesworth, JohnWayne, JYD, kingfish, Kobe24, Kobe824, Legacy, Lkr*, Macasero, magicbalala245, MainEv3nt, Mentch, MJ23, MoeRoadKill, Mr. Clutch, Multi-Billionaire, Newman, Nitro, NomarFachix, Oliver P, Phightins, platoon793, Prodigy, Real Deal*, Riot, s.t.a.t., Smitty, SRV, Sublime, Sun Tzu, Taber, The Artesticle, The Truth, TheHutch, trutrojan8, Universe, Vitasoy, Waldo, Warren2ThaG, xphylez, YoungYugo, Yugopotamia All non-Lakers fans, and a lot of them don't like Kobe, but they actually have a brain and respect what he does on the court, and have recognized him as the best player in the game. And they all "fit in" and are a huge part of this community you think you know. That's not even the entire site. Are you done?

Sure thing. Not a single member cares, trust me. Six years, way too many members just like you, and all of them are posting on forums that have either died, or on life support. True talk. Nobody strolls into the site and baits fans in game topics, and starts throwing jabs and acts like this community will open their arms up to it. They will run you out, and it won't be just the Lakers fans. If you want respect, you earn it. We don't bow down to members just because they post, mainly because our quality of posts mean much, much more than our quantity, and that's why we've been up for over six years. Fit in however you think you can, but most will tell you that you need to change.

I've trumped everything you said. Do I really need to go back? You trying to compare Kobe to a big's production? I gave you all of those advanced stats of Jordan's. Would you like me to compare his FG% and rebounding, and blocks, from any other season of his? Which big man do you want me to compare them to? You brought up the three Kobe-only seasons, one you forgot to talk injuries (first Kobe, then Odom for the rest of the year), two being over .500 and something Jordan didn't do by himself. I'll bring up the other four things I'm looking at if you really need me to. I'll hang on to all of them as long as you're around, because you just made them your crutch.

Yes, that's exactly what I did. You're 100% correct.

Oh, but Kobe was a +3 today, second to Odom (a +4). THAT MUST MEAN SOMETHING! Gasol shot 7-10, but was a ZERO. So fun.

I'm a 27 year old kid, huh? I stated twice that Jordan was the GOAT. Read a little, kiddo. Jordan's last season with the Bulls, he won the MVP. Legit argument, buddy. Are you comparing age? Would you like to repeat how many seasons Jordan and Kobe played? Kobe is a very old 32. Jordan missed three seasons, and he didn't start his career at age 17. Give up, dude.

You're the one making yourself look like a fool. Jordan is the GOAT. You're finding a way to bash Bryant, because you've already stated you hate the Lakers. A rookie Pippen was a lot of help. Did you just give me Scottie's PPG to prove he didn't do much? LOL...what was Rodman's PPG in the second dynasty? The gig is up, bro. You're doing your best, and it's just not good enough...and now you're at the "6 rings > 5 rings" road... Stat kings are easy to dethrone. I was like that about seven years ago, until I started paying more attention to the game itself. Nice talk.

Using advanced stats and thinking they mean something, and ignoring the fact that bigs shoot and rebound better than guards...Jordan's 98 MVP season: 1997-98 Bulls TS% - Jordan 7th eFG% - Jordan 9th ORB% - Jordan 10th DRB% - Jordan 7th TRB% - Jordan 9th AST% - Jordan 4th STL% - Jordan 5th BLK% - Jordan 8th TO% - Jordan 3rd USG% - Jordan 1st ORtg - Jordan 5th DRtg - Jordan 4th OWS - Jordan 1st DWS - Jordan 2nd WS - Jordan 1st WS/48 - Jordan 2nd Jordan is the GOAT. Fifth in steals? Fourth in assists? He was seventh and ninth shooting the ball? Made the +/- stats meaningless without a response? Check. Prove that most big men have better FG%, rebounding and block numbers, and less turnovers? Check. Prove that Gasol's Grizzlies and LeBron's Cavs weren't a one-man team? Check. Prove that Kobe was attempting more shots than Shaq every season after the first ring? Check. Prove how irrelevant advanced stats are when compared to teammates? Check. Gave reasons and comparisons (to the GOAT) as to why the Kobe-only Lakers were a .500 or better team twice, when Jordan didn't get over .500 until Pippen? Check. Looks like I'm done here. http://thelakersnation.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/ronflex.gif

I don't really care if K-Mart runs his chops after an offensive board and put-back, basically a game-clincher. Good for him, pathetic for us. Gasol is nice, but on a play like that, Drew has to be in to rebound the ball.

Haha, called that one. Drew has to be in the game if he's not hurt. That's just ridiculous.

Super...Drew hurt his knee, Gasol jacked his up. Just end this game already. Uh, jumpball? LOL.

Shot bad in the Finals? Would you like to see MJ's last three Finals appearances? He shot 40-41% in two of them, and I believe 44% in the other. And, go take a look at shot attempts. Kobe took more than Shaq every year after the first ring. He was shooting more AND facilitating, AND defending the best player. Gasol didn't have a single playoff win under his belt. Would you like to know how many shots Gasol put up? He never shot 15 FGA a game...ever. It was the Grizzlies' defense and ability to spread the floor that put them in the playoffs. Did you ever see them play? The 34-win season was due to injuries. You can go check that out, if you'd like. Hamblen went 10-29. Before the injuries, and coached by Rudy T, the Lakers were a decent 24-19. Would you like to know what Jordan's record was when he averaged 37 PPG? It was 40-42. Smush Parker (not in the NBA), Kwame Brown (barely in the NBA), Luke Walton (basically retired now) and Odom (sixth man now) were starting. I'm assuming you didn't watch the Lakers, though. Jordan has zero rings without Pippen. In fact, he has zero winning seasons without Scottie. Excellent logic, right? The 2007 Cavaliers were 4th defensively, 18th on offense. They won their games due to their defense, and LeBron was heavily criticized for his defense until around 2009. If you came here for this, you might as well turn around and go back to an easy-going site you can debate on, because you're out of your league, and everyone will eat you alive, eventually. You'll find that out very, very soon.

Well, any day Phil. Took forever to bring back the starters. I wonder if Drew will ever get to play in the fourth, lol.

In other words, Gasol has advantages in rebounding, FG% and blocks. I'm sure Andrew Bogut has advantages over Kobe in the same stats. Same with Bynum and most bigs. Less turnovers? Probably, because Kobe handles the ball more. How many bigs have more turnovers than Wade and LeBron? Most. Offensive and defensive ratings were already crushed by me. Numbers are going to be different due to the role in offense. A second scoring option finds it easier to score the ball when there's one of the greatest scorers of all-time on his team. The defenses are built to stop Bryant, not Gasol. Common knowledge. You're fighting a losing battle, dude. I could go even further with the debate and show you just how bad I can run those comparisons into the ground, but I'm busy watching and observing the players, not box-scoring my knowledge of the game itself.

Must be the luckiest player in the history of the game, then. No idea why everyone decides to hate on LA today. Hope you do it until June, though.

LOL at the +/- statistics. I'd love to manhandle that, but I've done it over and over again in the past. Just for fun... http://www.nba.com/games/20110329/MIACLE/gameinfo.html#nbaGIboxscore LeBron gets a triple-double (27/10/12), shoots nearly 50%, just three turnovers...but he's a -9. Meanwhile, Dampier has one rebound, three fouls, two turnovers and zero points and shots...is a -5 (better than LeBron). Joel Anthony, with two boards, two fouls, 0-2 shooting...was a +13. Worst stat in the world. I'd dropkick the WS and defensive ratings as well...but it would be a waste of my time. No reason for me to believe that Odom (103 defensive rating) is a better defender than Artest (105, and 11th on the team...lol). Those stats don't cover the individual, they cover the five-man units. If Ron is out there with Blake, Fisher, Caracter and Odom, his defensive rating will suffer because the five-man unit, as a whole, can't play defense. Simple as that.

Yep. Taking a look at all of the FT numbers this season, it's pretty obvious. People are too stuck on the calls he used to get in his prime, and need to stop living in the past.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but you guys really needed to take that lead going into the half. Utah was pretty happy about their lead the other night, until they blew it. LA is now a very good second half team. By the way, I'm impressed. Denver is far better defensively. I figured they would be, though. Plus, they have a lot of depth. I've seen them probably three times since the Melo trade, but it helps seeing them play against the defending champs.

Chandler hooks Kobe's arm, grabs his waist, then hits his shooting arm, and nothing. Do what you can, I guess. Good luck.

THANK YOU SUNS. [expletive].

Too bad Amare is in the East now. I wanted to see a healthy Drew tear him to pieces in a playoff series. Amare's dumb ass has no room to talk, though. Drew is right. He's part of the reason why the Knicks allow 180 PPG. I'd continue, but STAT is pretty irrelevant now. There are a few East and West PF's that I'd rather be concerned about in the playoffs, the ones we'll more than likely see.

I guess I didn't read the old suggestion. The new one seems nice, except for one thing: teams like the Utah Jazz will get absolutely no discussion. According to the ACP, we have a few Jazz fans...and only two of them really sat down to post, and neither are active. Game topics are moved into the home team's forum. If there's a Lakers/Jazz game (in Utah), all discussion will still more than likely be in the Lakers forum, if we use your method. However, having the gameday topics the way they are now means that a potential 3-4 page Lakers/Jazz topic (let's just say it's a playoff game that means something) would be moved to the Jazz forum if it's at Utah. In the end, less means less. If we were a multi-sports site that really didn't bank on, or care about, our NBA talk...we'd create one topic in General NBA and just let it pile on. I don't care about the look. Someone can go into the Jazz forum and see a Jazz/Pacers game getting one post, doesn't matter to me. I'd rather them go into the Gameday topic and have access to 1,230 games, as if it was a calendar, and have it all at their fingertips without deciding to ignore the least popular team forums every game.